david grainger

Greater New York

2010-05-19T20:13:00.000-07:00

Spoiler:

I've seen Greater New York at PS1 through its installation, and possibly the best piece, and certainly the one to be spoken about the most, will be that of David Brooks. His work is like Robert Smithson on steroids, if thats possible.

Okay I promise I'm returning to write more about art. . . so check back soon

Ecstatic at St. Cecilia, and Jules de Balincourt

2010-04-06T16:27:00.000-07:00

Saturday, April 3

First up, the "Ecstatic" group show at St. Cecilia Parish in Greenpoint. The show is organized by the Round Robin Arts collective, and included a four week program of screenings, performances, and panel discussions. There were tons of tiny rooms with paint peeling off the walls, and about 30 artists participating.

Caroline Burghardt

(sorry for the glare) I thought this photograph was a document of some sort of intervention of swim lanes in a lake; but the title suggests it was found this way at a Vietnamese national park.

Matthew Spiegelman

Lights flash on and off in a pattern.

Stephanie Liner

These are photographic documents of a gallery installation/performance. As you approach this pod embedded in the wall . . .

Stephanie Liner

. . . a young woman stares out at you, returning your gaze.

Jeff DeGolier

A messy mechanic/dollhouse disaster/glue gun aftermath of a sculpture.

Jeff DeGolier

The details were a mix of sloppy and precious, lots of gossamer elements shone in the light from a southerly window.

This photo of a simple leather belt in the shape of a heart adroitly installed in a small closet.

Emcee CM

I've learned that this artist lives near me, I see his posters at the local coffeehouse and they match some of the work on his website. Also, he knows my buddy James Sham and links him on his website. Someday perhaps we will meet. This was a reading room with all types of ephemera taped to the walls and sitting on tables.

Dorothy Royle

A plant in the window, is actually a paper sculpture, folded, cut painted. The artist returned throughout the show to append more blossoms, and wilt others.

Dorothy Royle

The building mirrored the artist's labours. The painted walls really reminded you of history in the parrish.
Gisela Insuaste

Painted wood installation. I feel like I've seen plenty of this type of work, and although I was immediately drawn to it, in recollection it feels uninventive.

Amanda Browder

(collaborating with Stuart Keeler).

These two artists filled a room with pieces under the project heading "After Yoko." Recently moving to separate cities, they challenged each other to make 3 pieces each following rules sent by text message. Here Amanda began laying down yellow tape in Grand Central Station until she was stopped by a policewoman. 9 large photos and the balled up remains of the tape are on display.

This type of performance is scarce in New York lately, the post 9-11 era has stifled questions of public space maneuverings. Young artists that might naturally have 'interventionist' or 'actionist' leanings are challenged with confronting deep, raw fears connecting the unknown with terror. Sure Amanda is doing a simple piece to push gently against this boundary, but she must know what she's doing. Grand Central is a major transportation hub, now heavily patrolled by K-9 units, and uniformed armed soldiers.

Amanda Browder

Amanda is a New York contributor to the Chicago based art podcast "Bad at Sports."

Recently, she prepared Art Battleship for the HashtagClass show at Winkleman Gallery. Conceptual v. figurative, artists v. dealers, painters v. everybody.

St. Cecilia's Parrish

Here's the exterior of the building. I will be showing in another group exhibit here next week.

21 Monitor Street, Brooklyn

The opening will be a good time:

Thursday, April 15

7 pm

Jules de Balincourt

Okay, so speaking of openings, we also recently attended this show (entitled "Premonitions")

at Deitch Projects. This was the end of an era, the last Jeffrey Deitch show before he leaves NY, and his career as a private gallerist. The artist just left his last gallery, LFL/Zach Feuer, to join Deitch, and now is left without a gallery, after this show.

I was with a few painters, and we had a spirited discussion that actually ran late into the night about this work. Some felt it was very good illustration, or technically savvy 'boy art'; that the colors aren't challenged or pushed . . .

These pictures don't give enough detail. I swear I will begin using a better camera on the next post. There are lots of taped off edges, and layers of oil on acrylic.

Some paintings were hung quite high.

I think his smaller paintings in general were more successful. The larger ones didn't have the imagination or improvisation that the smaller ones did. But then, maybe I couldn't see them well because there were hundreds of people milling about.

Until next time, which will be soon . . .

Scope NY Fair 2010

2010-03-17T14:03:00.000-07:00

Scope NY 2010

As you approach there is a man pouring chalk, interpreting the tibetan mandala tradition.

Joe Mangrum
Joe Mangrum
Joe Mangrum
Jared Lindsay Clark

Here we see Jared's porcelain knick-knacks glued together, and painted . . .

Jared Lindsay Clark

Kirsten Kindler

Paper cut outs from magazine ads.

Kirsten Kindler

EVOL

in maybe the same realm, but more street: graffiti artist EVOL does these carefully masked spray paintings on found cardboard. the brown from the material is left unpainted, for the most part
EVOL

Really great paintings, at first I thought it was a photograph, then a painting, then i saw the cardboard last.

EVOL

It seems like it could easily become a gimmick, but these still feel fresh. there were four or five of them hung in a row.

EVOL

Yep, I just couldn't get enough. Gotta love when old crappy cardboard sits in a nice white frame, and it holds its own.

EVOL

had enough yet?
Madeline Stillwell

Kind of a new cyber take on Carolee Schneeman's 1967 Body Collage. and by Cyber i mean using old clunky office computers and keyboards, kind of like the Japanese cult Tetsuo: The Iron Man meets 3rd wave feminism?

Caralee Schneeman Body Collage

from Tetsuo: The Iron Man

Said Baal

This piece was nice. A Lebanese artist currently working in Germany.

Alex Rodriguez

The paintings resembles books, or magazines, about art. You could do a group show just using this trope.

Jean Lowe, Steve Wolfe,

who else?

Mark Gagnon

This piece is called "9 Rings of Saturn". Spot On
A small guy I found in a niche somewhere, didn't have a label.

Andrea Salvatori

The moon made out of porcelain.

Eteri Chkadua

Soviet Georgian born painter.

Eteri Chkadua

Graham Gillmore

Although at first arresting, (and of course I love the reference to a "too cool for school" rock band) it lost its appeal to me rather quickly. It is large, maybe 7 x 10 feet.

Graham Gillmore

detail of the painting above. the canvas is wallpapered with paintings of invoices, records, and statements.
Kim Dorland again

she had a large presence at Scope also. This painting was large. The paint comes out at least a few inches from the canvas in certain parts. Sasqatch sitting for a portrait, for an infrared camera . . .

Ivan Puig

A Mexican artist. the image above and below were hung together, represent different techniques: the first is a sculpture, the second an intervention. maybe I'm just trifling with details, after all, it can come down to simply a degree of preparation. I believe the chair has been modified with a saw, not actually buried in the brick floor. The artist says the chair represents pedagogical indoctrination.

Ivan Puig

This one (which I love) is part of a Public Sculpture Intervention series. I'm nominating it for best in show . . .

Diego Benavente

I couldn't find much on this young Chilean artist.

Ansen Kayseri

These are digital print/painting hybrids, as explained by the accommodating Turkish gallerist. A problem with waiting so long to write is that I forget some of the details of these works. nevertheless they were sweet, I do remember that.

Ansen Kayseri

This was a play on the paranoid idea that some Americans have that Obama is secretely a muslim infiltrator in the White House. here the artist depicts him removing his shoes for prayer, as if it were true. The image is perspectivally skewed, the floor is flattened down to form a surreal stylized dreamy effect. I want to thank the folks at X-ist gallery for spending some time talking with us.

The A.M.F. Project presented DIY fashion of Krel2go, a project by Daria Brit Shapiro and Karelle Levy, involving custom fit knit garments made on the fly.

Jonathon Rockford

Ok ok, I know what you're thinking (maybe), " another crocheted yarn artist?" Well this one combines a strange mix of video work with yarn. You have to go to his website to see what I mean, the video work is absent here.

Jonathon Rockford

A close up of a fire extinguisher.

Jasper de Beijer

Builds sets out of paper and other simple materials, for photos. Sort of a more magical, theatrical Thomas Demand. This picture, which was quite large, was from a series entitled Udongo.

Jasper de Beijer

Peppe Perone

Its a wood sculpture with sand glued to the surface.

George Jenne

A Brooklyn sculptor interested in horror and B-movies with a Paul McCarthy feel.

Pierre St Jacques

A film maker who makes exquisite, quiet shorts. In the ones on display here there was always this tension between two people, with large amount of focus given to cues of an individuals' presence : footsteps in a stairwell, unrequited stares into a void, hesitation as someone is mulling over or deciding. There is a narrative, but it is buried under a dense language of filmic ontology. The piece pictured above, Traveling between Spring and Fall, has a man get fitted for a suit, lose his briefcase, arrange items on a dinner table with his mirror image twin staring at him, and tight rope walk between two buildings.

Pierre St Jaques

In this 2 channel piece, "and/or", the man plays the character "and", while the woman plays the part of "or". He is restless, constantly jabbering, busying himself to no avail. She is pensive, waiting, quiet - both seem lonely as they brush by each other on the street.

Randy Hess

Back at ADA gallery on the way out, I found this pinball machine getting some attention from some kids. John at ADA says it's not quite done, and he had to fix a knob that kept falling off. other than that, the thing worked like a charm.

What kind of style of decor would you call that? Arts and Crafts meets Neo-Rococo?

Randy Hess

Okay, y'all

Thanks for reading. I will soon post on more up to date shows. Until then, keep on truckin!

Independent Fair 2010

2010-03-13T19:52:00.001-08:00

Independent Art Fair 2010.

For those of you maybe not aware of the scene here, the Independent Art fair was put on as extension of a year long project spearheaded by gallerist Elizabeth Dee entitled X Initiative. For the past year, this space has been used for shows, lectures, and events in a cooperative spirit with artists. A lot of it had a stick it on the wall kind of feel, the final show was an open BYOA (bring-your-own-art) event.

The space they have taken over is the old Dia building in Chelsea, which was one of the first Chelsea art pioneers. Robert Irwin's 98 installation 'Homage to the Square3' at the Dia was 0ne of the most moving, life-changing works of art my then young eyes had seen.

So, now we have Dia sadly gone, and the Independent carrying on the tradition in a brave new economically shook world. Much of the work was less immediately marketable - scatter art, large installations, performance, and collaborations replaced paintings. And very few of the paintings were pretty or effusively polished like you would see at any of the other fairs.

As you enter, a neon sign, of desperation or hope?:

Bruce High Quality Foundation

The rat, usually reserved for union strikes and set up on the sidewalk. Here it took a break from the street, but not from complaints. BHQF provided a soundtrack of complaints and snarky comments for the visitor on the first floor. The arms moved mechanically, and he occasionally deflated, during which time the abusive soundtrack stopped. A lot of the work of "Bruce ..." I don't have a problem with. Some of it I really like, like the recent Off-Broadway (but Broadway, Brooklyn) production of 'Cats, Bed-Stuy Do or Die'. The video of a slacker, dopey theatrical perfomance is interspersed with interviews of the players - residents of the neighborhood talking about the changes effected by gentrification. Like much of their work, it is smart and doesn't try too hard to make its point.

Rirkrit Tiravanija

The first floor only has a few pieces. There is also a coffee bar, fingerfood, and books for sale. You can play ping pong on this table, which happens to be a piece by Rirkrit Tiravanija

Its surface is mirrored.

Much of the work was hung in a way that made it difficult to tell when one piece ended, and another began. This seemed to change floor by floor, with the top floor being the most traditional. Here on the second floor I found this piece of yarn suspended tightly in the air, somehow creating tension among the loosely gathered items all over the floors and walls. It was held tight by a near invisible piece of fishing line, a metaphor for how the show itself was held together by the gossamer of just enough effort and time.

I liked how it referenced Fred Sandback's yarn pieces, but changed them a little. Here is a music staff of 5 strands, nearby an artist sat with a laptop tweaking knobs and making some live noise music. Sorry, I couldn't figure out who was responsible for any of this.

The thread hung in the air...

Bosco Sodi

I'll call these the lava paintings, because that's what they looked like. I'm not sure I liked them, but they stood out as paintings in a fair of other things.

Bosco Sodi

Lava paintings, there were four, they all looked like this.

If you walked through this corridor, the dude leaning against the wall would tell you the floor is the piece, rip a page from a book he had and give it to you. It turned out all the pages from the book were the same.

Neon Sculpture

Lisa Anne Auerbach

These were nice. The artist knit these outfits, subtly changing the words in commonly worn slogans.

Lisa Anne Auerbach

the one on the left has Metallica lyrics.

Ryan Trecartin

There was all of this stuff nicely placed in the environment where his video played. It was not crowded like in the Younger than Jesus show. It was relatively spare, and the items he chose were nice to look at. That foot is cast plastic around seashells. It sits in a sand box with some chairs.

Ryan Trecartin

Actually I didn't even watch the video, the sculptures were good enough for me. Also, I find his videos give me a wierd feeling. When I watch his work, I get tired and strung out, like I actually become one of his generation Y characters who needs a Red Bull.

Ryan Trecartin

Sorry my iphone made this photo blurry, I will take a real camera next time, promise! The glass is shattered from this cabinet, and is arranged underneath it like its being hidden or contained by the case itself. Liked that.

Strange sculpture that I found interesting. Wood and hinges.

Stuff cut up and propping up sheets of glass.

Eva Rothschild

Okay now we're getting into identifiable objects with some space around them. That means I can (successfully?) take pictures of them. Here's Eva Rothschild with an upside down tree looking thing.

Eva Rothschild

Ricky Swallow

First thought, its a paper sculpture. a closer look reveals its carved wood. OK, got it.

Ricky Swallow

A side view reveals the sculpture represents a skull in the paper bag (that's actually wood). The gallerist didn't seem to acknowlege that this form was a skull, but it was obviously clear to me.

Eve Sussman and Rufus Corporation

http://www.winkleman.com/exhibition/view/1627

Basically, the artists made a recreation of famed russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin's office. The real office is preserved as a museum. Yuri was the first person in Earth's orbit. Eve Sussman and Rufus Corporation have developed a travelogue and video in an attempt to address the artists' desire for space travel. Go Here to read about other projects, like their failed attempt to gain access to the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Eve Sussman and Rufus Corporation

Christian Frosi

His web site is www.slottttttt.net (with 7 t's, easy right?) So Christian was very nice to talk to. He explained the three works he had on view, in a manner that left a lot open to interpretation. His sculptures adapted themselves to word games; he titled the piece above before he made it: "Two Images, TwoBalls", and then used the title as the parameter of the piece.

Christian Frosi

Christian Frossi

Against the wall two slides support each other, with the remaining light shining on them. I couldn't make out what the images were.

Christian Frossi

He made this tube out of fabric and stuffed both of it's ends with umbrellas.

Christian Jankowski

This wasn't actually at the Independent Fair, but across the street at Friedrich Petzel Gallery. As I was talking with Christian Frossi, this work came up. Is called Strip the Auctioneer. The piece itself is being sold at Christies , whereby the man selling the work has to take off articles of his clothing, and put them up for bid, piece by piece.

Christian Jankowski

"These are a my favorite shoes"

Edward Lipsky

Some of the most traditional sculpture at the Independent.

Miriam Cahn

This really reminded me of Izumi Kato, who was in the Takashi Murakami curated Little Boy Exhibit at the Japan Society.

Christoph Weber

Aluminum scatter art.

I'm not sure if this was the same person, but it was nearby the aluminum.

Katinka Bock

Much of the work at this fair is so close to the line of being bad, that I'm not sure if I like it. Maybe that wasn't the point. Maybe the point was more about the open-ness in general, to accept more kinds of work. (Editor's note: I went back and looked at more of the artist's work, and she is fantastic. This piece is quite subdued by her standards, and maybe that fit the transitory nature and aim of this art fair better).

Katinka Bock

A notch in the rock holds the plywood.

Foam bust, reminds me of a Michelangelo face of Poseidon.

Virginia Overton

Here's a 'simple' idea, prints wrapped around flourescent lights. This piece was a nice surprise, the combination of light and texture of hair was mysterious. The artist has been recently displayed at the Sculpture Center.

Koji Enokura

McCaffrey Fine Arts presented a trio of little known Japanese artists working in non-traditional photography in the 70's. This was gem of a presentation, and I will do more investigation into these artists. Here's Koji Enokura's image of a knife flying through the air.

Jiro Takamatsu

This was from a series of images depicting the artist (I assume) numbering each rock in the terrain.
Jiro Takamatsu

As if they were being catalogued for a museum.

I didn't get the artist's name, but its a combine of spraypaint, wall, canvas, newspaper.

Felt and silk flags.

This show had lots of installations with little information posted around them.

Duncan Campbell

This was an advertisement for a film, not an actual piece. A complete DeLorean, with flyers for Campbell's film on the trunk. The film is about the rise and fall of John DeLorean, Irish manufacturer of the automobile.

Duncan Campbell
Duncan Campbell

Boxes and bags deftly put in the passenger seat, as if it were in a parking lot doing some errands.
Jeppe Hein

This piece was also on display at the Sculpture center a few months before Olafur Elliason's mirror piece was placed in PS1 for his big MOMA/PS1 survey. It is very similar, as it is reflective milar stretched on a frame. Both pieces also spin slowly, turning and reflecting at the same time. I was glad to see this piece (in my mind the original) getting some more attention. I don't know who actually did which first, or even if it matters.

http://sculpture-center.org/exhibitionsExhibition.htm?id=10091

Jeppe Hein

The back of the device

Manfred Kuttner

This German artist was born in 1937. I say thumbs up to this painting.

Jamie Isenstein

This artist is also on display just down the street at Andrew Kreps. Among the work there are pedestals that are bare, except for a 'out to lunch' sign. She gives an video interview where her face is continually and cleverly hidden from the camera. Its on YouTube.

Alicja Kwade

Annette Kelm

When one picture of sunflowers doesn't do it, maybe four will. All of a sudden you have a field!
Annette Kelm

Andreas Bowers

This is all graphite on paper

Andreas Bowers

Here is a detail of the same drawing

Jordan Wolfson

So, in the last room, of the last floor, the best piece of the fair. A video, titled Con Leche, by Jordan Wolfson.

Digitally reproduced marching coke bottles with white liquid spilling out of their tops. The cokes walked though quiet streets and alleys, with the camera panning slowly.

the soundtrack was comprised of two voices, a woman's winding narrative on reincarnation, and an observer who occasional intervenes, commanding the talker to use more or less volume. The combinations of coke with milk, with crisp video and animation, with narrative and dream are unsettling and absorbing. The room was populated with a lingering audience, speechless and smiling.
Jordan Wolfson

Duncan Campbell

another shot, this one dedicated to Jesse Robinson

Dan Flavin

In the stairwells, a leftover piece from the Dia days.

Scope Art Fair coming next. Also updates on the Marina Abramovic and William Kentridge shows at MoMA.

Cheerio!

Pulse Art Fair 2010

2010-03-05T18:52:00.001-08:00

Pulse Art Fair 2010

Yesterday I went to Pulse and the Independent Art Fairs. Here is the Pulse stuff. Stay tuned for more . . .

Pulse had a pulse. if you could wrap it up in a witty entendre that says it all. Okay well it was more marketable, more 'telegenic' to my camera than the Independent fair (at the old Dia building), but probably more predictable as well. As you enter . . .

Alexandra Arrechea

By the way, I am posting links to all of the artist's websites, or if not available, the gallery representing them. Let me know if that's overkill or helpful. I find these links helped me learn a lot more about the artists.

So, basketball net tree, pretty straightforward. liked it.

Nathan Redwood

Stellar painting. That whole untouched squiggly line painting style is so delicate . . . it can work sometimes, but it can get overused quickly. Case in point, Paul Kasmin Gallery at the Armory had nothing but James Nares paintings. the whole point of the gestural line is that it doesn't feel overproduced. But Nares has overproduced, and killed, it.

Andrew Schoultz

This one's up for best of the show. the image isn't so good, so you can't tell that the piece is huge. I'll go on a limb here and say it's like Raymond Pettibone crossed with Sol Lewitt's wall drawings.
Andrew Schoultz - detail

Taylor Baldwin

The first of 3 aritsts I've got here from Washington DC's Conner Contemporary Gallery. Taylor makes amazing sculpture, and is having a show at said gallery right now. These 3 drawings are just some tantalizing bits.

Taylor Baldwin

The piece is only like 8 x 10 " the detail is small. I imagine Taylor hunched over his drawing table getting those lines straight.

Jeremy Kost

This was one of many, many pictures in a grid. He recently showed his work in the ICP Triennial. And I went to a party that he hosted downtown. He didn't pose like he does here, but then again, it was early, and maybe no one had a polaroid camera on them.

Erik Thor Sandberg

This is a small drawing with pencil and guache. I thought the skull between the feet was so odd. And the flyswatter.

Erik Thor Sandberg

His website is full of nude women paintings. the one nude man selected on his site has his penis covered. Just sayin'

Erik Thor Sandberg

detail

Kim Dorland

I love the color of some of these; in this one, the graffiti on the tree was great.

Kim Dorland

Kim Dorland

These paintings have large globs of paint stuck to the surface.

William Kentridge

The young woman watching this print gallery booth (they were from New Brunswick, NJ) was helpful in explaining these stereoscopic prints. I asked if the artist was from New Jersey. She said, "I don't know, his name is Kentridge, he's having an opera open tonight, I'm just an art history major." Well I told her she should learn about William Kentridge even if she is an art historian. We figured it was a particularly unique process to make these works, that combined drawing, photography, printing, and digital editing. but we couldn't figure out the order.
William Kentridge
Whoops wrong way.

Liliana Porter

This one's called "Forced Labour"

Liliana Porter

Here's the rest of it.

Devorah Sperber

Almost didn't want to include these, I've seen the same work for years from this artist. Say it with me: "Shtick." The colors are spools of thread.

Carlos and Jason Sanchez

Quirky, puzzling photographs.

Carlos and Jason Sanchez

The holy water is hitting the baby's head and turning red. Like its turning to wine, or maybe blood.
Matthew McConville

This painting is relatively small. He's depicting (rather romantically) another artist's work. The piece, Floating Garden, was created recently from the late Robert Smithson's notes.

Here's Smithson's notes from the 70's, and the piece from 2000's. Bruce High Quality Foundation, always looking to grab a footnote in the public realm, followed the garden around with a dingy outfitted with a recreation of one of Christo's Gates. Now if only that had made it into McConville's painting.

William Betts

Rather large painting. below is a detail:

William Betts

At first I thought they were colored thumbtacks. Nope, just paint.

Thomas Ruff

Laurie Hogin

I just like me some animal painting, what can I say. The colors are really bright

Laurie Hogin

Joana Vasconcelos

Good artist, but crazy website. This is fired clay with crocheted yarn. Brilliant!

Joana Vasconcelos

Clifton Childree

An old timey version of DeerHunter, or Duck Hunt, take your pick. The video takes on a silent film style with stop animated bullets flying through a room, and storyboard prompts telling you to get ready aim and fire...

This is another niche in the artworld (there are so many): nostalgia for early film antics. See Shannon Plumb and some Olaf Bruening.
Clifton Childree

The kids love it.

Alina and Jeff Bliumis

I like this work. Its poetic and simple, no?
Bill Smith

That's an emu egg floating in a fountain, with bubbles rising underneath it. Occasionally it will tilt to one side, and attached antennae will brush one of the feelers around the perimeter. Each is placed at 24 degree intervels, and a computerized voice anounces the degree the egg has chosen. the information is then relayed to a computer program that plots a small vector drawing that's projected on the wall. (or at least that's how I remember it)

This artist introduced himself to me, he was from St. Louis, and will be working at a residency at the Fabric Workshop in Philly soon.

Bill Smith

The container is vacuum formed plastic. The artist stated that all of the shapes were completely functional. Any decorative stylizations came from the organic nature of necessity.

Oh, there was also baroque music in the background, and Bill had to stand by and fix it because it occasionally got stuck. He said he was working the kinks out. Still, pretty fascinating piece. I told him I just had an emu egg omelette for the first time, which was true.

Bill Smith

Here's the computerized drawing.
Alexandra Arrechea

This is the same artist who made the basketball net tree.

Enrique Gomez de Molina

Hybrid animal art, done fairly well. I love the irredescence of the fur (or it feathers?) on this walrus.

William Powhida

This was his LA booth. I told the gallerist he should do something like #class (Powhida's current sit-in rethinking of market structures at Winkleman gallery). He yawned, asked for forgiveness, and said, "naww one is enough."

William Powhida

I must use this space to admit that I purchased a Powhida print last night. I couldn't deal with thinking up a barter to offer for the works on sale at Winkleman Gallery. Somehow, even though I don't currently have money, and I'm supposedly a creative person, I couldn't think of a barter worthy or fitting enought. It was easier to just pay for one on a credit card.

($50, cheap, at www.20x200.com you don't even have to leave the house!)
Darren Lago

Who loves Mickey? Piet I'm looking at you!

Kiel Johnson

I thought this guy wasn't too original, till i looked at his website, and see he's on point with some crazy good sculpture. (Still another niche, the make-it-yourself-out-of-one-common material, crossed with the fascination-with-grown-up-boys-toys niche)

Kiel Johnson

Sanford Biggers

it is an edition, titled "om"

Steven Day

A photographer who I met recently while working at a musuem. He doesn't restrict his subject too much with rationalization, but he works in series' that focus on a particular place. These photos included architectural shots from the ground, from the sky, along with a few portraits on the street such as this one.

Steven happened to be in the right place at the right time to photograph the Associated Press image of the evacuation of flight 1549 that crashed in the Hudson last year. On his website I noticed he also made paintings, a whole body of them five years ago, all about airplane evacuation diagrams. Spooky.

Fredrik Noren

Here's to the rare slicing-your-books-with-a-jigsaw niche. James Sham, this is for you.

Megan Whitmarsh

All of these items are soft sculptures, fabric sewn together. There were tons of them. They would sell together in groups or clumps.
Megan Whitmarsh

sorry it's a bit blurry. Of course I had to take the 'meta' picture of the tool remade by itself.

Alfredo Barsuglia

My german doppleganger has been painted, ever so lightly, as if he is in the act of appearing or disappearing!

Stephan Reusse

The material for this piece, in german, was "lasershow." Which distinguished it from most video projections or LED screens (like Julian Opie). No matter how far away the projector, it would never lose focus.

Jeremy Dean

Hummer art is a niche all its own, that I know all too well about. Many of you have seen my hummer piece. Then there was Andrew Junge's styrofoam hummer that stole the show at Scope Miami 06. Painter Jean Lowe made Hummer in the Park, and a simple google search will reveal other Hummer art here (made from lotto tickets), here (made with wagon wheels), and here. (Down Under Hummer)

Jeremy Dean

So Jeremy learned how in the Great Depression, people hitched horses to their Ford Model T's because they couldn't afford the gas. A simple leap forward in time and you get poetical justice for the HumVee.
Jeremy Dean

Its no wonder that these cars have become a symbol for artists to latch on to. They are a perfect indicator of the what the 2000's were all about. Aggression, status, pomposity.

Jeremy Dean

But I have to wonder about the scale of Jeremy's project. He actually took his life savings and bought the car, and took his welding torch to it the same day. Why is the spectacle of such a manuever necessary? aren't these small models, that Jeremy also made, nice on their own?

Jeremy Dean

Do we need the fully pimped out stage coach realized? Wouldn't it be nicer to live with some space in our imaginations, as just an idea?

Erik den Breejen

Word paintings. Erik does them the best. Except for Kay Rosen, but that's a whole different thing.
Misaki Kawai

This one's called "Spider Kiss."

(the spider's on her butt)

Eric White

Sorry these are blurry. They look like old record covers. A closer inspection reveals they all have jokes, and and even close inspection reveals they are finely made oil paintings. The "OUI" cover is a play on prog band "YES" albums. The others were funny too.

Eric White

Wheew! that's it for PULSE New York 2010.

Scope and the Independent coming very soon . . .

Armory 2010 Preview

2010-03-03T20:44:00.001-08:00

Armory 2010 preview (Wednesday March 3). I get a press pass of course for blog coverage.

So artists complaining about art fairs is like talking about the weather. Miserable setting to actually look at art. Well yeah, but THE place to look at a LOT of art.

What follows is a repository of some of the work that I responded to, just to keep a positive outlook on the art market system. We are the party of the Big Tent, guys! Big Tent!

I'm gonna save some secrets for those of you who actually read this whole entry, like which work is my favorite, and how many neon pieces there were . . .

Allan McCollum

Bernard Frize. Alexis called me over and made me look at this one. I gotta admit it's pretty nice. The camera is not out of focus. The painting is done with airbrush-sprayed paint, so it's all fuzzy. When you get close, your eye struggles to find a point to focus on, but cannot.

Alexis Semtner and Jared Lindsay Clark in front of the Bernard Frize painting- see how she's holding her coat? the coat check was like a mile away. I took all of these with an overcoat in one hand

Alon Levin

I spoke with the nice gallerist (from Seattle) about this artist, and he gave me a book by the artist. It's hardcover so it seems impressive, and I read it all the way home on the train. It was the artist's writing about a whole host of things from the impossible arches on Euro Bank notes, monumental buildings that were never finished, and "a two-dimensional world where Men are represented as polygons whose social status is determined by their number of sides."

-There was an image of a Ceal Floyer piece here, but I deleted it; because it wasn't that interesting. And I love her work, but then not every one is a home run grand slam, now is it?

Jonathon Monk.

The message seems best suited for the Art Fair walls. (this is neon piece number one... collect them all! Neon is also the perfect media for the dulled, glazed over gaze of a poor soul who's seen a thousand pieces of art in an afternoon and is just searching for the door to go have a drink somewhere)

Philip Lorca DiCorcia. The detail in this photo is barely caught by my flimsy iPhone. I'm happy it did this well, but I went for a close up . . .

nope still not getting it all. but the lighting is just right. this picture seems to fall from the heavens composed. (okay I'm a bit melodramatic)

Kota Ezawa - Staircase "From a series of ink drawings based on the "Odessa steps" sequence from Sergei Eistenstein's The Battleship Potemkin." (According to the Murray Guy Gallery website). I love these, probably because they are ink on paper, and not strained at all... this was one of many in a grid . . .

As I backed up and took a photo, I got so excited i accidentally threw my iphone into the wall, it barely missed hitting the frame of one of these. Somehow I didn't get embarrassed as a I smiled meekly at the gallerist.

Werner Reiterer, okay now my eyes are starting to glaze over. is this good, or not?

Mickalene Thomas, fair warning she's a good acquaintance of mine, but let me rave anyway:

I must say that this particular display of her work is better than I have ever seen. Yeah it was a small room, and these paintings were pretty large. They just jumped off of the those temporary flimsy walls and grabbed your jugular.

Mickalene Thomas sculpture

Still Mickalene Thomas. Still fantastic.

Bert Rodriguez, riffing on Bruce Nauman, for our Neon piece number 2. just for kicks, I'm gonna put the original one by Nauman down below:

now, here comes one of the surprises, i mean i walked in on this not expecting anything, and then whammo, i got closer, and i think it may have taken my breath away. the picture doesn't seem to do it justice, or maybe that's the thing, it surprises you only when you get really close, and look at the materials. Ladies and Gentlemen, Jacin Giordano:

so those are just basically carefully (but not too carefully) cut splinters of wood. some hardwood probably. and on the ends,

rhinestones. or some glittery thing. I just loved the combo of completely ordinary scrap wood and the delicate articulation of these stones. they are put on very carefully, geometrically.

Joachim Schonfeldt, this is a detail of his piece , 4 animals. the most telegenic part worth photoing. I think

that's a turkey getting squished on the bottom.

Kudzanai Chiurai, the background Toile made me think I was looking at a Kehinde Wiley. and oh was I wrong

Tony Matelli, the articulation of skin and figure made me think it was Duane Hanson, but I must have been sleepwalking.

David Kramer. So when I see a whole wall of these, I feel a little manipulated. but on their own some of them are just sweet. the drawing is nice, and the irony is not overdone.

(in case you can't see, it shows a guy and girl sipping wine in front of a burning log fire, and says at the bottom ". . . I'm still working on my social skills.")

Gheorghe Ilea. I thought this tryptich was a gem. Titled "Winter Coats and Rugs," it shows genuine paintings of the textures of those things.

Jessica Jackson Hutchins, by my blog's count, now on view in 4 independent places in New York. Like I said, I'm converted.

Dominic McGill, Same gallery as above. Derek Eller Gallery, that is. I ask the woman there was this artist at the last PS1 Greater New York show (5 years ago)? She says to me, "that's a good memory." I say, it was the best piece in the show. So I was happy to see his work again, and she told me Dominic will have a show coming up at Derek Eller, that he's working 'real hard on'. It will have a sequel to the crazy-ass-indictment-of-the-2000's drawing that he showed at Greater New York. Something to do with uniting Islamic and Western cultures with graffiti. Can't wait.

Iris Schomaker. Some rich dude was like, I'll buy them all, especially the big ones!

Tomasz Kowalski (He's the Polish Dana Schutz, but so much more than that...)

The gallerist was way excited about talking to anyone who was interested. Seems he's the only person in the world showing this young man, who is practically a Genius. I loved this painting above. And there's a lot of detail you can't see, ghosts who are barely visible in white outline. The details are great, like the fact that the hands and feet are facing down while the face on the operating table is looking up

I really admired this piece next to that painting, and then found out that it was also Thomasz Kowalski. Must take note to be this brave in making different things.. It's a bow and arrow that are holding each other up by a tiny amount of friction.
and again, Mr. Kowalski. nice detail

sorry it's blurry, but check out that legging!

Wei Dong, mmm, I would say, this is not my thing. The painting is really labourious and doesn't give me much bang for the buck.

Anthony James, okay the mirrored box thing has Got To Go. End this trend NOW! Josiah McElheny (Mr. Sublime), did it right the first time. everything else has been just poor imitation. Except of course, Beth Campbell, but her work is something different altogether.

Amy Bennett, Second work I nominate for best of the night. These oil paintings are just slick as sh**. Damn, they bring up emotions in me. This was a Santa Monica gallery, and these two bearded west coasters were looking at this with me. One said, "yeah I dig these."

At first your mind thinks Are they photo? But quickly cuts that from the list. Then it asks "Are they models?," as if somehow refuting the just-gained knowledge that they can't be 'real' because they can't be photos. The way they're painted really captures the volume of the scenes. It turns out she uses model train sets to actually build these scenarios, which she then paints from observation onto a really smooth board, and covers them with a glossy finish. Oh, and the brushstrokes are lovely.
Amy Bennett, again.
And again. Reminds me a little of Hilary Harkness, whose work I also loved on first encounter, but then later got bored with. Will that happen again with Amy?
Devin Troy Strother, painted paper cut, and collaged. Same gallery. the work is called: "The Block is Hot"

Hah!

Edward del Rosiario. nice detail
Sorry I missed this artist's name. the image is made from 'hand -colored paper', which sounds ambiguous . . .
but up close you see it has been cut with a tiny knife and somehow puzzled together.
Su Mei Tse. She came to VCU and I did a studio visit with her. She was nice and sweet and Neon piece number #3!

Matthew Day Jackson . It's a cockpit view. The sun is vinyl, the interior is a relief of painted wood.

David Reed, these are preparatory notes to his paintings. There were quite a few pages, detailing experiments of where colors would go. I've heard his work described as cinematic. This looked like a script of the painting.

Joseph Kosuth. neon #4 of the night

E.V . Day, Mummified Barbie. Sorry the head's cut out of the picture. Still I like this work. I showed her stuff to my classes in Richmond. Now she lives next door to me. Gotta love New York.

Neon again. this one I didn't get the name. And officially it's neon and spraypaint. The black line is a "l" that turns 'Poetical' into "Poletical" (which I almost confused for Polemical)

Mona Hatoum "Worry Beads" somehow I can't stop from moving the camera.

Jennifer Steinkamp, this is her first foray into video on monitors. Usually she makes projections. This one is of the four seasons. Artificial leaves and trees kind of slowly perambulate through the screen, entering from and exiting all sides. The colors reflect the changing of the seasons. One viewer next to me commented on similarites it had with Louis Comfort Tiffany, who did his own glass work based on the seasons. I thought it was a smart comparison.

Marc Quinn.

Statues are usually more solid. I ended up keeping this blurry photo because of the irony of a gold statue walking. Simple pleasures.

Jake and Dinos Chapman - small ink drawing. Done in the style of, say, Durer.

Christian Jankowski, The Hunt.

Video work wasn't all that visible. Here there is a piece, but it is old, established, well known. (The artist attacks his food with a bow and arrow in the grocery store). I also saw a brand new Adrian Piper piece, and a few others. Painting will always reign supreme at art fairs

Fernando Mastrangelo - LaSalvaMara (smile now, cry later) Cremated Human Ash, 84" x 49"

Really, it's all human ash? Where do the remains come from? Leftovers or urns that weren't picked up at the crematorium? I've heard that a lot of remains are just left there.

So that's it, starting with urns, ending with ashes. The Armory 2010. I didn't catch all of it, but you get the idea. Thanks for viewing. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, let me know. In a day or two I will have the Scope art fair images up, and a day or two after that Pulse. Cheers.

2/25/10

2010-02-25T20:54:00.000-08:00

Okay so a whirlwind night of openings. I brought my camera, still testing the waters on whether this blog is better with pictures or not. I don't like shooting at an opening, per sae, but maybe its worth it.

Nari Ward at Lehman Maupin:

This is a fabric piece on the floor . . .

He was included in NeoHooDoo at P.s.1 last year, with an inverted liquor street sign with some lights out that spelled SOUL. (Remember that?) Also, Nari will be visiting the Vermont Studio Center this summer, so maybe you'll see him there, if you happen to be chillin in Vermont.

This was the centerpiece of the show. Ambulance with letters painted white, and flashing lights. Apparently there was smoke inside the vehicle. I missed that somehow...

I saw a young boy explaining to his mother what this was. It seemed like he saw the logo before she did. This was felt and vinyl I believe. I like his use of materials.

titled "Church and State"

Ana Cristea Gallery:

The next two are from a group show titled In Standard Time at Ana Cristea Gallery; I think it's a new gallery. Wasn't really loving the work, but I took a coupla shots...

This painting, ok I admit, I liked. It's by Richard Wathen, titled Lavinia. The background is unpainted canvas, and parts of the woman's skin are nearly raw untreated canvas as well. It's a nice skill on display, I'd say.

I rolled into James Cohan, but it turned out to be a private affair. Just as people behind the desk were "Um Sir" -ing me to leave, I saw my friend Theresa behind the desk. Which is wierd because she doesn't work at James Cohan. But the affair was for NYFA, which she does work for. From outside the window, I got a glimse of a Yinka Shonibare MBE piece, surrounded by fancy folks.

Oh here's a David Maupin giving an interview. As I past by, I heard him talking about how he was happy to "have Mickalene Thomas in so and so's collection." She's fantastic.

Derek Eller Gallery:

As promised last time, I visited Derek Eller to see more Jessica Jackson Hutchins. They give me mixed feelings. Somehow using ceramics gives her a pass to reinvestigate Rauschenburg? Working with clay, she brings in this whole other language that is so passe and overlooked in the Artworld. But she doesn't take the time to understand the skills or techniques employted in the discipline of ceramics. Some of the pottery is just plain old clay smoothed onto chicken wire (its hidden, but its in there). Rauschenburg is kind of passe or overlooked too, his style was sort of particular to the moment. I still don't know what to think but I do like the random details:

Like this one with the artist's face and her baby (presumably), both half hidden. And this photo itself is a small detail of a much larger canvas [below]:

This may be my favorite, with the pot falling through the chair. What can I say, I like supposed one-liners:

Winkleman Gallery:

My second visit to Jennifer Dalton's and William Pohida's #class at Winkleman Gallery: I came for a performance by James Leonard that had to d0 with giving a Military-type press conference to sell psuedo War Bonds that would help the artist make an army of 10000 little green handmade soldiers. It was listed as going from 6 - 8 pm, but it was over by the time I got there at 6:40ish. It only lasted 40 minutes or so.? I wish I would have known that before I trudged through the snow to get there (its like the farthest gallery in Chelsea), but still it was nice to check out all that had been written on the chalkboards. I added my own text . . .

(see my previous post about this project, or go here

Yossi Milo Gallery:

I forget this artist, and it's a poor reproduction, but I like the concept. It's a real tree with a huge white tarp hung behind it. Art made in nature, or bringing the white cube to the forrest . . .

The show here was by Pieter Hugo, titled Nollywood. Nollywood is the Nigerian Film Industry, larger than Hollywood and second only to Bollywood, according to the press release. "1000 straight to video releases each year.
They are large format, and it was hard to get a good shot without a glare.
The films lean toward the macabre and melodramatic, with narratives rooted in local symbolic imagery and traditional storytelling.
Themes and subjects often include "the supernatural, with plots centered on romance, extortion, prostitution, witchcraft, or religion." Yossi Milo press release. As documentary images, they are fantastic and educational.

ClampArt Gallery

This show, The Museum of Unnatural History, was CRAZY packed. I don't know how I took this picture and held my wine at the same time without bumping into somebody . . .

A lot of artists making work about, or involving, diarama setups like those in the Natural History Museum. I liked this one above

...and the baboon was cute. Sorry I didn't get the artists' names. And I didn't take pictures of the other work. Combination of: I wasn't that interested, and it was claustrophobic at the opening.

Cue Art Foundation had a show by Carrie Olson. I found these porcelain dust masks to be intriguing/compelling, but not much else. . .

To me, they were nice as one, or two. Just lining them up like this takes away from their preciousness. And they are sitting on this jetprinted wallpaper. I think I can say without a doubt that I have yet to find a computer jet-printed wallpaper application in an installation that I found appealing. Just saying.

Bortolami Gallery

Michel Francois, a Belgian, made these nice pieces. Some were more evocative than others. All relied on a few basic ingredients.
Here, colored plasticine and glass
I liked how each and every person had a different view, like being in a different place on a map.
All of his pieces seemed mobile, barely held together, or rebuilt for each installation.
This was a fantastic piece: chains of different sizes and magnets. A gallerist allowed us to touch it and show that each chain could be pulled off. The sculpture was flexible.

Reminds me of Chris Burden's Medusa's Head, or those magnet filings pieces by Mona Hatoum

This one is again magnets holding rods onto the wall

Horton Gallery

Where everyone is drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon... This photo grabbed me real quick. (sorry for the glare, better version here.

Eve Fowler photographs lesbians touching each other through glory holes or sniffing boots. I thought they were really good. There was a send up of Valie Export's Action Pants: Genital Panic, where a girl named K8 posed in crotchless denim.

Okay because I'm still getting used to Blogspot, there's a mix up in the next photos. some are from the excellent show "Ghana" by Lyle Ashton Harris at CRG Gallery. and some are from a Faith Ringold/Aminah Robinson show at ACA Galleries.

The Ghana show at CRG, is my hot pick of the week. short and sweet it had installation, videos, & painting. I thought it was a group show, but it was a solo show by Lyle Ashton Harris.

oops that's Faith Ringold

Faith Ringgold fantastic fiber mask, made the year I was born , 1976 . . .

(it's holding up better than me)

more Faith
and a Ringgold quilt. The work spanned drawing, painting, sculpture, and quilts, (with a lecture and booksigning thrown in).

Okay now this was back to the Ghana show. this is actually paint on a printed fabric. So it's not so far from Faith Ringold at all... interesting

There is not a glare in this photo. It's a projected video on a screen that also has a still image silkscreened on it. Somehow the artist achieved the right balance of tension, light, and drama to keep my interest.

A 3 screen installation of guys lifting weights and showing off their pecs. Again, it had an audience spell bound. Like the Nollywood show, the artist is just showing some daily routines of a niche group in an African culture. With all the media in our lives, this just shows how our common sources of imagery are limited in scope.

Back to Aminah Robinson at ACA

Faith Ringgold at ACA. The sculpture is a basketball player
Aminah Robinson, ACA.

Its late, so I'll say adieu for now: Adeieu.

once again . . . a new blog

2010-02-21T21:00:00.000-08:00

I'm eating pickled okra. Here's a quick relay of the weekend events:

Yesterday I awoke (dragging out of bed) to go march across the Brooklyn Bridge for a Health Care rally with Anna and some friends. Chants included: "We are the public, give us the option". "What do we want, HEALTH CARE; When do we want it? NOW!" and the baroque "Let's finish Teddy's fight, Affordable health care is a right." We had a good time, this was a more mature, mellow rally than some of the anti-corporate and anti-war marches I participated in the last decade.

After lunch, Mickey and Carmen parted ways while Theresa, Anthony, Anna, and I went to see Afruz Amighi's show at Nicole Beuchene Gallery. Afruz is a friend of mine from old Queens Crane Street Studio days. I was happy to see that that she happened to be in the gallery, so we got to catch up a bit. Afruz is the winner of the first ever Jameel Prize, sponsered by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The award is worth £25,000, and includes her work in a tour of 5 venues in Riyadhi, Lebonon, Casablanca, Istanbul, and Damascus. Not bad, I'd say. Congratulations Afruz!

Theresa and Anthony went home, and Anna and I looked at more Lower East Side galleries. You can't be in a rush in the LES, things are just too spread out, and the cafes and shops are just too friendly. So, we had a really nice run in with the woman behind the desk at DCKT Contemporary, I swear Anna is just fantastic with chatting people up. I am the awkward, quiet one. The show there by Josh Azzarella is nice, and Marina (behind the desk) seemed excited to explain the work, piece by piece, even though she must have done this all day long. Basically Josh selects images and film stills and removes the subject digitally, leaving haunting quirky landscapes. They seem familiar, composed, but mysterious. One shows a group of people assembled on a horizon, looking at the sky; where the Hindenburg was is now imaginary ordinary sky. I saw a video of his a few months back that I really liked, where he digitally removed, frame by frame, all of the people from the "Thriller" music video. What remained were smoky camera pans through eerie graveyards and damp dark streets.

We also stopped in Small A Projects. Anna knew the gallerist, Laurel, from Reed College. But only slightly. I guess its just one of those schools where everyone knows everyone else. Jessica Jackson Hutchins is showing there, as well as at Derek Eller Gallery in Chelsea. (Update: also in the Whitney Biennial). I was not a fan of Ms. Hutchins for quite a while. Its strange how these things begin, I worked with her at the Queens Museum's install of the Joan Jonas retrospective, and she just rubbed me the wrong way. That is relatively easy to do, I admit it! I realize I never really gave her work a blank slate chance when I began seeing it all over in group shows. Now I'm questioning my reasoning the more I see the work. Some of it is beautiful, her kind of bold reckless combination of fabric and ceramics. I haven't seen the Derek Eller show, but I will make a trip after seeing this show.

We met up with more friends at the Henry Taylor opening at Rental Gallery. Now this place is farther south than I usually go, so I've never seen it. 120 E. Broadway, FLOOR 6. the entrance is really hidden and the gallery's a bit raw. I've heard they are moving soon. But the place was packed. Henry's paintings are a mix of portraits and sports figures. They feel casual in a way like Alice Neel, you imagine that a friend stopped by his studio and the agreement to sit for a portrait was no problem. His sculptures had stacks of beer boxes, derelict furniture parts, and lots of brown. They relish the cruddiness of things found in a basement, I detect a little bit of William Pope L. feel in them. There was a notable piece that was a box, painted as a TV depicting the twin towers on Sep. 11. It was suspended in the corner like a waiting room television, simple and direct. We had a good time here, and spent some time with the artist in a dinner and afterparty. Anna got beyond tipsy, and we had a few good dance moves on the floor.

Today (Sunday) again I had to be dragged out of bed. This time for a brunch with friends at 1130. It was at the EXACT same Dim Sum restauraunt that we were at with Henry Taylor a mere 12 hours before. Of all the joints in Chinatown. So anyway, after that, we found ourselves smack in the middle of the Chinese New Year's parade. So many dragons, and confetti. I really wish I had taken my camera. I made Anna and our friends stop by Invisible Exports, where we enticed our friend Christine with the "Artist of the Month Club". You pay for 12 unique, affordable pieces of work. The club selects 12 curators, who in turn select an artist each. Each piece is made in an edition of 50. The materials go beyond just prints or photos. there is a real range in types and sizes of work.

After that we made a lot of forays into various shops, The Pickle Guys, which I've been wanting to take Anna to for a long time. Like I said, I am now munching pickled okra. Then one of our friends took us into Economy Candy. This place was just teeming with people shoulder to shoulder, fists stuffed with swedish fish, Watchamacallits, jelly beans, candy bars, licorice, you name it they had it. Except, for what our friend Aaron really wanted: Charleston Chews.

Finally, I somehow rallied the remaining troops for an expedition to the Winkleman Gallery. William Powhida (Artist of the month club, jan. 09) and Jennifer Dalton have organized "#class," an art project about public dialog in the space. There is a schedule of events: presentations, panel discussions, Q and A with gallerists, art battleship game (sounds interesting). And there is a large chalkboard covering all the walls, so that the visitors are encouraged to write answers to questions like 'What is wrong with the art System?' It is not exactly completely public, Ed Winkleman reserves the right to kick you out if you are out of order or disruptive to the functioning of the event. Both Winkleman and Powhida push their respective practices to include blogging, and I think they take the content of this show very seriously. If I did not follow their blogs, and I just wandered into this gallery with no context, I might have felt more suspicious about the gallery-critiquing-gallery model on display. As it is, I am excited to return and use this as an opportunity to meet some interesting people who care about the art scene.

So that's it, first entry. Come back soon for more! And/or tell me what you think . . .